Queen statue, Rutland - Lord Lieutenant of Rutland - video Dailymotion

Stamford Mercury

The Lord Lieutenant of Rutland Dr Sarah Furness at the unveiling of the statue of Queen Elizabeth II outside Oakham Library

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00:00 Rutland may be a small county, but the response to the idea of a memorial statue has been

00:06 huge. All the money raised has been through voluntary contributions and over 98% of it

00:14 has come from individuals and businesses. We've had contributions of varying sizes

00:22 from people across Rutland and beyond. When Her Majesty died, the world paused. I

00:32 was inundated with emails, letters and phone calls. People were shocked at the death. Her

00:39 Majesty provided us all with a sense of stability and continuity. As Head of State, she gave

00:48 us national identity. More than that, her warmth and wisdom meant that people felt her

00:55 loss very personally. The strength of response gave me the idea

01:02 for a statue and I'm delighted that the funds have been raised so quickly. I know

01:09 that when you see the statue, you will see what a wonderful job Howard Prattley, our

01:16 sculptor has done. He has been quite amazing. He took a risk with us because I could not

01:24 be sure at the beginning that we would have sufficient funds for the full-sized bronze

01:29 that we have. Statues last for hundreds of years and I wanted

01:37 a statue that showed Queen Elizabeth in her prime as a monarch, so with a crown and ropes,

01:45 and I wanted it to be an image of a monarch that could be understood long into the future.

01:52 Queen Victoria, who came to the throne aged 19, is remembered by all of us as an old lady

01:59 because the images of her were commissioned towards the end of her life and showed her

02:04 as an old lady. This seems to me a shame. Our statue shows Queen Elizabeth in mid-life

02:13 and if you catch her profile, it's the familiar one found on coins, stamps and banknotes.

02:24 What most of us remember about Queen Elizabeth was her warmth. Howell and I wanted to show

02:33 that warmth whilst also marking her dignity and her role as a monarch. This is a combination

02:41 that could have been challenging. We decided that her corgis were the way to achieve this.

02:49 We all know about Queen Elizabeth's love of corgis. Rutland's statue features three.

02:57 By showing Queen Elizabeth's love of dogs, we show her humanity. And there are reportedly

03:03 46 corgis here today. I'm sure you can hear some of them in the background. And I'm

03:10 delighted that the Welsh Corgi League have brought Pembroke corgis from across the country

03:15 to support this event. And you will get a chance to meet the corgis afterwards at the

03:23 castle. This is a statue which is for everyone. We've

03:27 held a corgi art competition for primary school aged children. The competition has been judged

03:35 by Alistair Adams who lives in Oakham. He is a famous portrait painter and past president

03:43 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. He's had a difficult job. There were many

03:49 entries and a really high standard. I thank him and I'm really glad it wasn't me that

03:55 had the task of judging. The entries were very good indeed and I hope that later in

04:01 the year some of them may form part of an exhibition about the statue. I'm pleased

04:07 to say that the two winners will be unveiling a corgi each next. So I would like to ask

04:13 Freddie Newnham who is aged nine from Oakham Church of England School to come and unveil

04:20 the first statue. Well done. And now Molly Bunham aged five from English

04:40 Masters School is going to come to give the entries. Thank you Freddie and Molly. You

05:03 did it most beautifully and I hope that in a minute the three of us unveiling the statue

05:08 will do just as well. The unveiling itself will be undertaken by our representative of

05:15 His Majesty's Government, Member of Parliament Alicia Keynes, our representative of the Church

05:22 of England of which the monarch is head, our new Bishop of Peterborough Bishop Debbie Thelin

05:27 and me His Majesty's Representative for Rutland. Coincidentally three women representing

05:34 church, government and monarchy. I think it rather fitting for Queen Elizabeth to have

05:49 three women unveiling her statue. Queen Elizabeth was one of the very few female monarchs in

05:55 our history yet she stands out as one of our greatest as well as our longest serving. Before

06:02 the unveiling I would like to introduce our two speakers who will speak briefly in turn.

06:08 After their speeches we will do the unveiling itself and at long last get to see the statue

06:14 in all its glory. Our two speakers will be first Alicia Keynes and then secondly our

06:21 sculptor Harold Prattley who will talk about the creative process. So Alicia.

Queen statue, Rutland - Lord Lieutenant of Rutland

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